A good day

[+The Jester]

Well, I didn't get out caching today, but it was still a pretty good day:

 

1.  After being exposed to Covid-19 a week ago (my sister came home - she's a traveling OT, currently working in CA - we met to loan her a car and had dinner together, then she came down sick Sunday night and was tested Monday & was positive) both of our tests came back negative for the virus.

 

2.  The inflatable kayak (a Sea Eagle 370) we ordered over a month ago finally shipped.  Soon we'll be able to start working on all those paddle caches in the area.  Maybe there'll be some summer left for us to enjoy it.

 

[+The Jester]

The kayak was delivered today and we practiced setting it up in the yard:

We plan on taking it out tomorrow and trying it out.  We've use single kayaks before, but never a two man.  Then we'll try  for a paddle cache or two...

[+The Jester]

We spent a little over an hour on Lake Meridian in Kent (hmm, why no paddle caches?  Maybe because it all private except the park) and paddled about 2.25 miles.  I forgot to take the GPSr with (remembered after we launched) so I don't have the exact time/distance.  If we're not too sore, we are thinking of A Ride On The Lake 1 for our first paddle cache - it's the oldest one I know of in the area and I've wanted to get it since it came out in 2004.

[+The Jester]

Well, A Ride On The Lake 1 was a bust.  We had too many bushes to search and didn't want to ram our way in too much so we wouldn't damage the boat.  Both our GPSr's were pointing out in the water, so they didn't help much in zeroing in on the hide.  Sixteen years of growth on the "small bushes/trees" and a year and a half since the last finder, I can not say it not there but it's always a possibility.  Bummer.  Still had a nice paddle around the rest of the lake.

[+The Jester]

Woo Hoo!  We got our first (and second, and third) paddle cache find today!  We did a tour of Shadow Lake and found all three caches there.  I'm not having much difficulty talking the wife into trying for them as she like being out in kayak.  In fact, she told me not to try for any solo, she wants to be along.

 

[+MtnMutt-ProDuckShins]

Congrats on your new Yak, have fun & stay safe.

[+The Jester]

14 hours ago, MtnMutt-ProDuckShins said:

Congrats on your new Yak, have fun & stay safe.

We've been having lots of fun so far.  We've been on six lakes (the first - our 'test drive' of the Yak - had no caches, our second had one but we DNF'd it) and found 13 paddle caches and DNF'd three, over 11+ miles of paddling.  This is our first experience with a 2-man kayak (we've been in single kayaks, canoes and rafts), and we seem to be getting the hang of it.  I'd like to try it on some easy rivers (it's designed to handle class 3 water) when we've gotten a little more experience.

[+Sagefox]

Check out Lake Saint Clair in SE Lacey.  14 to 16 paddle caches.  One or two of the paddle earth caches require collecting tools needed for the geology experiments so be sure to read those pages.  A few of them are challenge caches which you likely qualify for.  

To find the lake, get on the gc.com cache map and center it on the Nisqually River delta and then scroll straight south.  You'll see it.

[+The Jester]

On 9/7/2020 at 11:04 PM, Team Sagefox said:

Check out Lake Saint Clair in SE Lacey.  14 to 16 paddle caches.  One or two of the paddle earth caches require collecting tools needed for the geology experiments so be sure to read those pages.  A few of them are challenge caches which you likely qualify for.  

To find the lake, get on the gc.com cache map and center it on the Nisqually River delta and then scroll straight south.  You'll see it.

Strange, I wrote a response to this, but it never made the thread.  I'd found out about that lake from ohjoy's EC's - man! that is a lot of paddling needed.  I may have to find a place nearby to park the trailer for a couple of days to save on driving time.  Most of the CC's I do qualify for.

 

Today was another GOOD day - we headed up north to get a FTF on a paddle cache on Jack Island.  We launched from Guemes Island at a small boat launch on the north shore (there's a cache right there).  1.9 miles RT in 65 minutes, not bad for beginners on their first open water trip.